Treatment of materials consisting wholly or partly of wool



Patented Dec. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE masmsmoam'raamsooNsrsrme WHOLLY oa-rsnrnr or WOOL RobinsonPercy'Fodlds,ManehesteryEngland'assigner toiootal-Broadhurst Lee CompanrLimited,Manchester, England, IsrBriflsh company No Drawing. a'pgucamn september:20, 19:9,

Serial No. 116,85 29,1948

In Great Britain September 7 Claims. (CI. 84128 ever used -in thepresent specification, we include all animal fibres which are capableo'f'being felted.

In describing this inve'ntion,the termfeltlis to be understood 'torefertothat property ofo'rdinary wool which causesthe individual fibresto c1ose=upon-each other inwashing, or other'treatment. inaqueouslliquor-in'whichthe wool mate rial is repeatedlys'queezd'an'drubbed, so that the wool material becomes tiens'erandmore compact.This propertyof. felting is responsible for the shrinkage which woolyarns and fabrics suffer when washed, so thatmhen-woob is-rendered lessliable-todelt-it-isalso rendered. less liable to shrink. j

It -is known-that the treatmentoi wool with halogens in :the'gaseous or.dissolvediorm is-capable of rgivin'g thew'ool increased aiilnity fordyestufis and reduced tendency tofelt.

It has now-been found that-the treatment of I wool with halogens can abe -efleo ted:- lays-placing it in contact with-a soiid.-substancewhichliberates or can be caused to liberate halogen when in contactwithwool. The time required for treatment depends'uponrthenature ofthe-solid substance employed and the eil'ect desired.

'According tothe present invention, therefore,

materials consisting whollyor partly of woolare treated'with halogen byliberating-the halogen from a solid substance placed in contact with thematerials. i

The materials treated by the present invention may=be in the form ofloose fibresor in a manufactured form such as yarn or woven or knittedfabric on in any; intermediate stage. The materials-may havereceived-some treatment such as scouring,:b1eaching,-dyeing hot pressingand milling. The method ofthe present invention is also suitable forthetreatmentzof woven orknitted goods suchras-igarments. The wool may be-in. admixturewith-other. materialsrsuch ascotton. I

The :method of the-z-present invention has theadvantageover--thedmownmethods using halogens in the gaseousor dissolvedform thatit is simpler to'zcarry ou and -easier to'control. It alsohas-thezgreat advantage thatit-may be' used on shaped garments with lesstendency for the garments to become :distorted' than when they aretreated with liquid oi-gaseous reagents.

,2 the-form of-a flnely divided-powder may be a compoundofa fiuidhalogen -whichLwill-liberate or can be induced-to liberate such halogenwhen in-contact-with wool at atmospheric cr -superatmospherictemperatures or-it may be 'a-solid having halogen: absorbed or adsorbedin orlupon it. The preferred halogens are .chlorineand bromineeases, theformer being cheaper -'and more convenient to -'A-suitable compoundteemploy is bleaching powder which is a well known andcommerciallyobtainable product obtained by passing"chlorinergas over lime.

If the solid substance after it'has beenlused in the method oi thepresent inventiohgis. still capable of liberatingmalogen it'may be usedagain.

-'I he =m'ethod ofthe' preseiit-inventiom maybe so employed that-th'eextent-of treatment of the wool is insufllcient to reducenaterially its tendency to felt but suflicient'to'lncrease its afllnityfor dyestuffs: :Bu'chl treatment may .befollowed, if'desired,'by furthertreatment witlriani oxidising or:reducing agent, fsuch as hydrogenperoxide, which is knownlto reduce the -tendency"of .-wool tofelt. The'utent'ottreatmentandthe Itime'required for treatment,.:can:behnodifled'by?employingthfisolitbsuhstancein admixturevwith asolid diluentfinertdio'stheimm fpmferalfiy in the form of aifln'elyxdivided powders .Thereil'ect ,oi: the .hahgeniis'incrw'sedi with:increase: inrtime off treatmentsand: is reduced "by dilution not thesolid" substance with'ithe solid-:diluent. .The time required fi'oritreatn'ient rdepends upon:the nature ofrjthe solid rsuhstancetemployedcand the ne'ifect desired. Theztinie required-Ito produce:a'nysgiven effect, is. Lg.rdegreefofrieltingrresistauceralso-dependsupon thezxcidityrofialkalinityof the wool. In general, the time oftreatmentds*longer if .zthe woolris'on theialtallne side and'shorterifit is'on the acid sidemflneiztrality. Similarly, the -time depends uponthe moisture content of the wool. Within ordinary limits','-the"moisturecontent of thetkvooifdoes=not -appeai'--to be orgreat'dnzportancerbntdi'the woolsdrien than customarymhen theggtime oftreatmentimayr-be more prolonged; The solid material with whichthe'woolzis treated may be-moist orrdry;

: Thematnientmnconveniently be carriediout at atmospheric temperature,although 'higher temperaturescandmeduced; pressures may be employeddidesired.

-Gonvenientiy-the woolwmaterialmay be embedded in the finely dividedsolid substance capable 'of liberating haloscn whenin contact withwoolor in The solid substance which-is'preierably used in as the'solid'substance mixedwith' the soliddiluent.

Alternatively one face of a fabric may be covered with a layer or thesolid substance and the fabric may then be rolled up so that the solidsubstance is in contact with both faces. The solid substance may beremoved after the desired time of contact by unroilmg the fabric andshaking'and/or brushing the solid substance from the fabric which isthereaiter washed. The washing preferably in- CllldeS treatment with ananti-chlor" such as sooium bisulphite which may itself reduce thetendency of the wool to felt.

it bleaching powder is spread over a wool fabric. or a wool fabric isburied in bleaching powder and the two materials are allowed to remainin contact, for a number of hours, the wool acquires an increasedresistance to felting. Movement of the fabric while in contact with thebleaching powder improves the evenness of the result which isparticularly desirable where the fabric is to be subjected to additionaltreatment after the treatment to improve. its resistance to felting. Theaction of the bleaching powder on the wool can be conveniently retardedby diluting the bleaching powderwith a solid inert to bleaching powdersuch as china clay, sodium carbonate or fine sand preferably in the formof a finely divided powder, the extent'of reaction in unit time beingdetermined by the proportion of inert pow-' der. For examp1e,-witl1' twoparts ofiinert powder to one part of bleaching powder by .weight, thetimerequired to produce gree ofanti-felting is abouttseventeen oreighteen hours at room-temperature. Inert diluents which arewater-soluble, such as the sodium carbonate;.refererd to: above. are.advantageous I as they can be removed from the wool by washing.

The inventionwillbe illustrated by, but is not limited. to; thefollowingvexamples. 1

' One faceofan unscoured knitted all wool fabric containing:14-18%moisture was. wholly cov ered with-solidbleaching powder in fine powderform byspreading on to the fabric 1% parts by weight of the powderto 1part of wool. The exact constitution ofibleaching powder is uncertain;but qit is commonly statedto ncontain lime, Ca(OH) 2; andfcalciumhypochlorite,.Ca(OCl) The:fabricawas'rolledmp and-left in-this consa esA of 1"part byivolume of bleaching powderin-hne powder'form and-2 partsof'aniii:

hydrous-sodium carbonate?was. evenly scattered over one face'or' ascouredwovenzmixture'flabric consisting of 50% cotton and.50%-wool; thewool component of .Whic11=- contained" 18%:- moisture. The proportionof.mlxed powder: to-fabric used was 2':=to'- 1 by weightwwithout-removing-the solid powder the fabric was wound-on-a roller sothat :both' the upper 'andllower surfaces of the fabric were -'incontact with'the-powder and the fabric 'was'allo'wed to remain in thiscondition for:18'-20:hours at room temperature: 'The fab-- a substantialdc-.-

4 ric was then unrolled, and the powder removed and the fabric washedand dried as described in Example 1.

The finished fabric when washed with soap showed greater. resistance tofelting than the untreated fabric.

Example 3 Knitted wool socks were air conditioned and then buried in amixture of finely divided silica and bleaching powder in the proportionsby volume of 2 to 1%, contained in a suitable vessel. After 24 hours thesocks were freed of solid powder by shaking, exposing to currents of airand washing as described in the preceding examples. The treated sockswere more resistant to felting than the untreated.

Example 4 One face of a woven all wool fabric which contained 210% byweight ot'water was covered with solid bleaching powder in fine powderform. The fabric was rolled up and left for 4 hours. At the end of thistime the powder was shaken off the fabric which was then washed in watercontaining alwettingagent. Then it .was immersed in dilute sodiumbisulphite solution and finally washed. l I

- The untreated fabric when washed and milled in soap solution shrank by42% of its original area, whilst the treated fabric when washed underthe same conditions showed no shrinkage.

A"process-6f treating wool with chlorine bleaching powder.

'2. A-proc'ess' of reducing the tendency of wool which comprises placingit in contact with solid to feltwhich comprises embeddingit in solidbleaching powder for a period exceeding one hourfi' 3. A process ofreducing the tendency o f wool to felt which comprises placin it incontact for a periodexceeding four hours with solidbleachlug-powder.- pA process of reducingthe-tendency of wool to"feltwhich"comprises placingit in contact for aperio'd ="exceeding one hour' *with a mixture r ofsolid'bleaching 'pow"dei;"and a solid diluent inert t 'bieechl allt'lwtieiz r 1 ["5. A "process of reducing the tendency 'ol' wooltGTIeItwhIch comprises placing it in contact, for a period from abouteight to about twenty-four hours-with a mixture ofsolid bleachingipowder and a finely divided solid" inert solid bleaching hours'with amixture of 'solidibleaching. powder inert to solid bleaching-powder.

powder. 1

6. A process of reducing the tendency of wool tolfelt' whichcomprisesplacing it in contact for a periodifrom' about'eight .to-abouttwenty-four and a finelyrdivided water-soluble solidrdiluent 'I. Aprocess of treating wool with chlorine which comprises placing it incontact for e. period exceedin one hour with a. mixture 9; solidbleaching powder and solid sodium carbonate.

nonmson Pm mums.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are 01 record in the file ofthis patent:

Number Number Great Biltaln A. D. 1799

1. A PROCESS OF TREATING WOOL WITH CHLORINE WHICH COMPRISES PLACING ITIN CONTACT WITH SOLID BLEACHING POWDER.